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g28 The Leader arid Saturday Analyst. [M...
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NEW POEMS.* "POETRY is distinguishable i...
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* A Jlfaa'a Heart. A Poem. By CilARl.ES ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Tempekaxce, And Other Novels.* Why Shoul...
the instruction and development of the infant mind is especially in trusted , to follow some of the excellent advice which the . author Of this little volume has . so liberally administered . V Leonore arid the Little Countess " is one of those delicate aiid refined stories , which convey the impression of perfect simplicity and purity to the mind of the reader , begetting for itself a calm and steady interest , which , perhaps , the most elaborate and high-toned romance would fail in-eliciting-. ' One of the chief charms of the present volume is the tone of deep ' feeling and genuine religious sentiment with which the author has invested it . There is , however , no tendency to sermonizing , no long dissertations on the force
and value of the true spirit of Christianity , embracing arguments which have ever and anon been brought forward and descanted on , till they have become " familiar in our mouths as household words . " The authoress wisely endeavours to instil her precepts into the jninds of others by the force of example rather than of protest , and in order to accomplish this she has created out of her fertile imagination two of the most delightful and fascinating heroines that ever graced the pages of fiction . Leonore , an orphan of low extraction , and who , at the commencement of the story , is dependent on the charity of two somewhat cross-grained relatives , is sent for to the castle of Lichtentlml , that she may help to lighten the weary
hours of the little ailing Countess Nadirie . Thereupon springs up . between the two girls , notwithstanding their difference of rank , a sincere and lasting attachment . The guardians of Nadine , who is . also an orphan , resolve to try the effect of change of climate upon the person of their suffering ward , and she is ronsequently sent * upon a long visit to a doting grandmother resident in Paris , her little companion of course following in her wake . After a lapse of many years the twojU'eturn to Germany , and the generous little Countess , not content with having bestowed upon her protegee a liberal education , determines to raise her to her own level in society , and presently introduces her into the most aristocratic circles as her friend and equal . In the accomplishment of . this loving resolve , » he encounters only too . effectual opposition , the prejudices of caste
being too deeply rooted for her unaided efforts to overcome . She then fosters an attachment existing between Leonore and her cousin Adalbert , thinking ¦ ' . that , by allying her adopted sister to the younger branch of her own noble family , to throw ^ a permanent covering over the meanness of her parentage . In the forwarding of this project , however , she meets a formidable opponent in the person of the Countess 'Justine , Adalbert ' s mother . Through her machinations , and the treachery of one of the young-- Count ' s friends , Leonore is ultinjately induced to break her engagement , arid take refuge for herself and bitter sorrows in one of the religious houses © f Germany . Both these characters are beautifully conceived , "
especially that of the high-born damsel , whose generous sacrifice m behalf of her friend is not fully appreciated till the conclusion of the narrative , when we discover that at the same time the Countess is negotiating a marriage between Leonore and her kinsman , she herself is heroically combating a secret attachment for the latter , and with true nobility of soul , worthy her exalted station , resolving not to advance the golden temptations of her own brilliant possessions against the solitary chance of her in ore humble companion . XJItfrnatelyrirawTiverrsh ^ and five years after Leonpre ' s assumption of the veil the afflicted Adalbert receives some compensation for his first inconsolable loss in the person of his gentle and loving-hearted cousin .
G28 The Leader Arid Saturday Analyst. [M...
g 28 The Leader arid Saturday Analyst . [ May 5 > 1860 "
New Poems.* "Poetry Is Distinguishable I...
NEW POEMS . * "POETRY is distinguishable into form and essence . With the - t first poet , the essence must have preceded the form , and the form been absolutely the normal expression of tile essence . The * spiritual impulse must have been felt , and the natural manifestation followed . But the order maybe reversed , when the example has Tbeen once set ; as a matter of fact , we know that it is reversed . Homer sings the wars of Greece , and seta the fashion of epic narrative ; his successors adopt that fashion , and regardthe excellence of their work as consisting- in its likeness to the imitated original . The laws of epic composition are deduced from the Homeric practice , and Virgil even can do little more than combine the formulae of the Iliad and the Odyssey in his Latin epopee . Modern poets are apt
to bo overridden by the form , and to limit arbitrarily the manifestation of tho inner life by n preconception of its laws , so that an eternal sameness in the vehicle is presented at each now effort to sing * , the spontaneous being precluded by the prevalence of the mechnnienl . Some . writers , such aa Owen Meredith in his " Lucille , " therefore , Peek for a free media , and leave the mechanism of verse dependent < n ( he inspiration mid even the development of the story on the poet i <; mood . In this way a largeness nnd breadth are obtained , and a possibility of expansion to any extent . But- there is danger in untried experiments j nnd there are unexpected difficulties also which only genius can surmount , in the development of operations wliich are at liberty to spread themselves in every direction , without goal or guidance , save what are involved in their own exhaustion . No such danger or difficulties beset Dr . Mnekny in his new
metrical venture , entitled « A Man ' s Heart . " This eminent singer to'the popular apprehension has conspicuously paid attention to me form of verse , and hasevev been careful to write with accuracy and eleWnce . Daring . violations of poetical diction are not in liis way , and aberrations from the recognised ' standard are his aversion . On the licenses of a Milton , a Shakspeare , or a Dante , he looks with no favourable eye , and is content with a monotony of effect , so that it can be proved to be within rule and compass . His ambition is to achieve the reputation of a correct writer in forms generally acknowledged . If the form be poetic he is satisfied ; he is less regardful ot the essence . He cares little whether this * e poetic ; indeed , we think he lumes himself upon treating themes not poetical in
themp selves iiia poetical manner . He takes politics and social science , and , adopting from them a topic , commences spinning stanzas that shall point the ' . moral in musical cadences , with more or less of passionate utterance , and a conventional metaphor or two , and thus produces a result which has the advantage of being generally intelligible , and may be as easily read as a newspaper leader or a prize essav . He does not look into the obscure places of the soul , and catch what gleam of light he there can , and then suffer it to expand and enlarge itself according to its own inherent laws , until it becomes a « revelation to himself and others . And yet we might expect something of this from the title of his new poem , which has great merit , but not exactly the merit implied hi its appellation . ... to in heroic
Charles Mackay has sought in his new poem depict blank verse , with lyrical interpositions , the outline of our modern manners . He shows'in opposition our aristocratical and manufacturing interests , with an undercurrent of that artistic and mechanical intelligence which it is the present instinct of the age to encourage . He shows how little regarded by these are the first affections of man and woman , and how easily they are sacrificed to convenience or ambition . But though sacrificed , they are not always extinguished ; and the immediate turn served , they are found to survive , and sometimes make a way of their own to happiness and peace . But the spectacle is not then in accordance with the worldly environment , and the . mysterious powers appear to be in haste to dissolve it . Death meets the party on a pleasure-trip , and the heroine perishes Jjy an accident while exploring the beauties and sublimities of mountain scenery . The hero , who . has artistia instincts ^ lives to complete the portrait of the loved and lost , which
being finished , — _/ " Hreathing the one name , He laid his'liead upon his father ' s breast " , - "__' , ' And clasped the sympathizing hatid , and died . " ^ We note in the composition of this poem many curious felicities of diction , and much tenderness of thought and feeling . The delineation of Scottish scenery , with its mists and tempests , is also exceedingly graphic , and will add deservedly to Mr . Mackay ' s reputation as a descriptive poet .
It is seldom that among the new volumes of verse with which the press is daily teeming , we have to report of any either likely or deserving to secure the smallest degree of popularity . 1 he " greater is our pleasure in giving prominence to a poem by Miss Power , which possesses elegance and grace and a musical cadence . -JTJieJJj ^ anZfifjtke storv is artistic . The hero is a sculptor , whose early tastes are thwarted by the vulgar lamily , whose aversiotrtorthe nude is extreme , among whom ho is educated . The ^ heroine is a little girl brought up with him ,, whose mind sympathizes with his aspirations , and who remembers him long after he leaves the roof of her father , with all the constancy of a first 'nffoctio . 11 ; , and , though she does riot hear from him for years , seeks and finds him in a critical hour and becomes his wife . The poet describes the inner life of the loversand the aesthetic refinement associated with natural
eerisi-, bility , in a spirit that demonstrates the possession of like feelings in herself . But she is not careful to provide the external circumstances which should serve as links of connexion between the earlier « nd later parts of her narrative . She neglects to tell us how the heroine became acquainted with the condition of her lover , and leaves it to the imagination of her reader to guess the means by which she discovered his retreat . She gives us the stage-situation of their meeting , but makes no effort to account for it ; satisfying herself with an effective denouement , and at once bringing doxvn the curtain . This certainly evinces a lack of invention , and deteriorates so far the value of the work ; but the author has descriptive powers which richly embellish the progress of the navrativc , and a meditative vein that will reward the pensive reader who surrenders himself to its guidance .
Mr . Norman ' s verses are less simple in their character ; and , though not without merit , less intelligible in their aim . The " Kchoes from Dreamland" are disposed to tho noisy and vehement . Mr . Norman , oven in his lyrics , is declamatory , and has not yet learned " in the torrent of his pnssion , " to " beget a smoothness . " His metrical construction is sometimes exceedingly violent . Who does he think can tolerate four such lines as the following P"But now no longer oan withstood tho power of sweet rcposo Be , even by those love-lit orbs ( which seem but made to shod Their light to gladden man on earth , ); and now Sir Jiichard rose Up from tho table , loaded still , and , ' midst the silence , said—" There is-, however , foroe and vigour in the writer j and , hereafter , lie may be more successful .
Here , too , we have a volume of Moorish verses by a writer who calls himself " Idea "—why wo know not ; his " Lyrics nnd Legends" aiming rather at the actual than the ideal . He writes like a man of tho world rather than a poet , and not always with the elegance and accuracy required by " the style of thing ' whichho has attempted . Nor can we give a much more favourable opinion
* A Jlfaa'a Heart. A Poem. By Cilarl.Es ...
* A Jlfaa ' a Heart . A Poem . By CilARl . ES jUackay . Smith , Elder , M ' A Co . , Virginia's Hand . A Poom . By AjAuauEiUTB A . Poweb . Longmane . Echoes frpin Dreamland . By Fbank NonMAN . Ward and Lock . Zj / riis and Lcrjcnda of Home . With a Prologue and Epilogue . By Jjdjsa . Chapmnn and Mall . War Roma . By Captain Noake , Mylea Maophail .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 5, 1860, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05051860/page/16/
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